Gold Coast
(Australia)

The latest City Edition of Monopoly dedicated to Australia's Glitter Strip won't tell you, but it will give the aspiring white-shoe brigade developer or curious self-managed superannuation fund punter the chance to workshop their ideas and get a feel for how the real thing could play out.

The top-priced dark blue property - equivalent to Mayfair in the original London version of the game - isn't actually a piece of real estate at all. Rather, that space is taken by "Gold Coast Lifeguards".

The top-priced dark blue property - equivalent to Mayfair in the original London version of the game - isn't actually a piece of real estate at all. Rather, that space is taken by "Gold Coast Lifeguards" and priced at $M400.

Second-ranked, no doubt a pleasing sign for its beleaguered owner Ardent Leisure, is the Skypoint Observation Deck, which costs $M350. That is followed, in the green zone, by Q1 Gold Coast ($M320), Bond University ($M300) - although it is not immediately apparent if that sum buys a property or a degree - and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary ($M300).

But even while the assets to be bought, sold and paid rent on may vary in type from the traditional, the latest version of the much-loved game makes it clear that everything on the Gold Coast is up for development. You want to build houses at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary? Those will be $M200 a pop, thanks, and a hotel on the site will cost you just an extra $M200 - once you've already got four houses standing there, of course.

The cheapest site on the board, going for just $M60, is Tamborine Mountain, followed by Springbrook National Park, also yours for $M60.